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While by and large I agree about most ICOs, I think the value proposition is a lot clearer for something like Filecoin. Does that necessarily mean it is worth

While by and large I agree about most ICOs, I think the value proposition is a lot clearer for something like Filecoin. Does that necessarily mean it is worth what it is valued at? No, but comparing the IPFS folks with total snake oil is a bit unfair.

krrrh 9y ago
Sure, but it's kind of like saying that FTP looked like it would be a useful protocol in 1985, and an early draft of RFC 959 should have been adequate to raise gobs of money. In the end FTP added a lot of value to the internet, but it doesn't mean that the folks who wrote the reference implementations would have known what to do with the equivalent of $1B.
- nicpottier 9y ago
  Sure, but there's a weird / interesting aspect to these ICOs here as well, in that the valuation of the coin is also what will drive adoption of the providers. Since miners will be paid in coin to validate providers and providers will also be paid in coins, then there needs to be some value associated with it. The ICO in this case kind of bootstraps the value of the coin in a way that is needed in order to bring on miners and providers. So in a way the value being raised is a bit like capital costs that the network will "spend" to bootstrap and verify the network. Don't get me wrong, this is a lot of money to raise, but saying this is totally nuts without taking into account that the model is very different (and interesting!) is not giving credit where its due. Will it work? Who knows and certainly most startups fail, but it isn't a foregone conclusion.
Taek 9y ago
Yes, but is the value proposition really $2.5 billion _pre-product_ for a team of maybe 20 (not sure exactly how many people are on Protocol Labs payroll)? And, did people actually do their diligence? Did any of the investors confirm with qualified academics and blockchain specialists that their Proof-of-Spacetime paper is secure and functional? Or did the market blindly throw $186 million in one hour into a hot deal because it's the hottest deal? Juan has been saying for years that one of their primary goals for Filecoin was a token sale to fund Protocol Labs.

krrrh 9y ago

Sure, but it's kind of like saying that FTP looked like it would be a useful protocol in 1985, and an early draft of RFC 959 should have been adequate to raise gobs of money. In the end FTP added a lot of value to the internet, but it doesn't mean that the folks who wrote the reference implementations would have known what to do with the equivalent of $1B.

nicpottier 9y ago
Sure, but there's a weird / interesting aspect to these ICOs here as well, in that the valuation of the coin is also what will drive adoption of the providers. Since miners will be paid in coin to validate providers and providers will also be paid in coins, then there needs to be some value associated with it. The ICO in this case kind of bootstraps the value of the coin in a way that is needed in order to bring on miners and providers. So in a way the value being raised is a bit like capital costs that the network will "spend" to bootstrap and verify the network. Don't get me wrong, this is a lot of money to raise, but saying this is totally nuts without taking into account that the model is very different (and interesting!) is not giving credit where its due. Will it work? Who knows and certainly most startups fail, but it isn't a foregone conclusion.

Taek 9y ago

Yes, but is the value proposition really $2.5 billion _pre-product_ for a team of maybe 20 (not sure exactly how many people are on Protocol Labs payroll)? And, did people actually do their diligence? Did any of the investors confirm with qualified academics and blockchain specialists that their Proof-of-Spacetime paper is secure and functional? Or did the market blindly throw $186 million in one hour into a hot deal because it's the hottest deal? Juan has been saying for years that one of their primary goals for Filecoin was a token sale to fund Protocol Labs.